The Homelessness Epidemic Gets Worse, Highest Number Of Rough Sleepers Since National Count Began

The UK’s homelessness epidemic is growing worse as statistics show there are more people sleeping on the streets in our city centres than at any point since national records began in 1998.

Rough sleeping has leapt by over 50% across England since the current Government weren’t elected going from 1,768 people in 2010 to an unprecedented 2,744 in 2014. Despite Boris’ claim he would end rough sleeping in the capital by 2012, the number of street homeless people in London has almost doubled from 415 to 742 people between 2010 and 2014.

The first national street count was carried out in 1998 when 1,850 people were estimated to be sleeping rough in the UK according to homelessness charity Crisis. By 2002 it had fallen to 585. Since then it has more than quadrupled and the rise shows no sign of slowing – rough sleeping in London jumped by 37% in the last year alone.

The Tories have been quick to blame immigrants for the rise, as if no-one ever came to London from overseas and ended up homeless prior to 2010. In truth the CHAIN figures (pdf), collected by charities and published alongside the government’s estimate, show that rough sleeping has risen in London amongst both UK nationals and those from Central and Eastern Europe who only make up 34% of the total.

Even these figures, which are based on a physical count of people sleeping rough in just one night, only show the tip of the iceberg – not least because there are persistent rumours of police operations clearing the streets of homeless people before the count takes place. In addition the count does not include people squatting in abandoned buildings, sleeping in locked public parks, living in vehicles or hidden away outside city centres. The true extent of rough sleeping in England is far higher than these figures suggest – and this is just the most acute form of homelessness. There are tens of thousands of single homeless people living in hostels or nightshelters who are not recorded in any figures. There may be as many as 400,000 hidden homeless, staying temporarily with friends and relatives or living in B&Bs. The number of homeless families is also steadily rising with 60,000 families currently living in temporary accommodation.

Homelessness charities have blamed both soaring housing costs and welfare reforms for the homelessness epidemic. Chillingly we are not even close to seeing the real impact of the Bedroom Tax, Benefit Cap and slashing of Housing Benefits for those under 35. Many people are having shortfalls in their benefits made up by ‘Discretionary Housing Payments’ – which can be removed at any time by local authorities. Others are surviving for now, or haven’t yet fallen into high enough arrears to face eviction. The Benefit Uprating Bill, which pegs rises in Housing Benefit at 1% no matter how much rents soar, will place further pressure on those struggling to keep a roof over their heads. The Tories have pledged to remove Housing Benefit from the young completely if they win the next election. Labour are threatening yet more benefit sanction based forced work schemes – the cause of the ‘massive’ rise in street homelessness in Manchester according to local charities. Several London Labour MPs want more laws to criminalise squatting.

Mass homelessness is set to be one of the most visible legacies of Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms. How bad things are going to get is the only real question left and not one politician, of any main party, seems to give a shit.

Let’s not forget the homeless hostels taken over by housing associations who rent the premises out privately with extortionate rents.
Arlington house in Camden given to one housing group by Camden council and,then lewisham council giving the running of a homeless hostel to one housing group

chewie
lets not forget the 10’s of 1000’s of csa/ca victims driven to destitution, coz others use them, as there is no sanctuary and they can’t stand up for themselves until self esteem is recovered/restored, it’s criminal!!….there is little effective treatment out there for victims, as people don’t care enough….press to ensure that the work of dr bob johnson is freely available, but would you believe that people even ridicule his proven curative work as being wizardry etc etc….on top of that people even accuse abuse victims of lacking moral fiber and self control, who’d believe it, eh?

Overburdeneddonkey – Just checked out Dr Bob Johnson. His treatment isn’t available any more, but it looks very dodgy anyway. 100% cure for all mental illnesses? If it sounds too good to be true then it’s probably cr@p.

p s the ways of administering his methods are here, the 1st lenny filmed in parkhurst prison the 2nd carried out by 2 caring people…it can also be done diy as i have….but i’d had similar but not so honed therapy in the 1980’s so i knew what was required, but i was skeptical to try it @ 1st, just like many others are, it took me many years to believe/trust it and after being fed cbt/state horseshit, i am living proof that it works…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxphZtIHvHs

but you want 100% proof and no one can give you that….as he says it has never failed yet…you can sample his work his books and what has been written about his work including govt of the days refusal to have his papers validated… ‘Bob Johnson may well be on to something, but he knows that his discoveries are political cyanide for a Home Secretary who wants blood-red meat to feed to public opinion. Parkhurst Prison has asked the Home Office to analyse Johnson’s results so that they have hard evidence on which to build policy. The Home Office has done nothing. Johnson submitted a paper about his work to the Reed Committee on mentally disordered offenders. The Committee did not even acknowledge it. Johnson went to London to talk to the Prisons Minister, Peter Lloyd. He thought Lloyd understood what he was saying, but he has yet to see any action.’ http://www.nickdavies.net/1994/03/01/the-mad-world-of-parkhurst-prison/ and tom marigold panorama… and there’s you telling me i don’t know me…get lost….
cbt/drugs makes things worse and is used despite the evidence of the harm these cause….

It’s Dr Bob Johnson who claims 100% proof. I didn’t ask for it, because like all rational people I know there is no such thing as 100% proof. You think he’s never failed? That’s sad, because he can’t even prove 1%, let alone 100%. He has no evidence whatsoever.

bob claims 100% cure, not 100% proof of how it works, it just does…no one can prove they are cured….except the difference between lenny in the vid from terror before, to calm, relaxed exuberant, chatty happy, after, one can see, sense the difference…this happens every time…..
you’re into gentics…i looked @ this yrs ago problems with chromosome 11 causing depression…i was not convinced, i am convinced of his work…the problem is trapped or frozen emotions anxiety not fear of failure anxiety…
the trapped emotions have to be expressed unbottled and one is free…this is the root truth the truth you’re unable to see or acknowledge.. maybe that you have no need to acknowledge….others do…it’s like you’re saying abuse affects no one, when clearly it does….war affects people ptsd for example….

“bob claims 100% cure, not 100% proof of how it works, it just does…no one can prove they are cured”
If nobody can prove they are cured then how can he claim 100% cure? You need to go away and think about reality for a while.

no i can’t prove 100% cure, and i never said that i have 100% evidence for a 100% cure, as this would be impossible for me to produce, and nothing is 100% provable, as you have acknowledged….but i will state categorically now, that i believe this to be true, as the evidence suggests that his claims are highly likely, based on the evidences, and references to further reading etc, that i have posted…

overburdened – At last! You now admit that you only BELIEVE it’s true that that Dr Johnson can cure 100% of mental illnesses. That’s OK, millions of people believe that Jesus and other fictional gods could perform miracle healing. They and you are wrong, but you’re perfectly entitled to your irrational beliefs about your gods. However, perhaps you might reflect on why a supposedly qualified doctor like Johnson would falsely claim something is 100% true when it’s just a belief, for which there is no evidence whatsoever.

Perhaps in future you could be a bit more honest and say plainly that it’s just your own irrational belief.

goblin
what are you talking about!?
i have presented the evidence that it’s highly likely his claims are true…i’ve never said any different you brought the requirement for 100% evidence not me…we have already previously acknowledged that nothing is 100% provable, so why do you continually irrationally ask for 100% proof?
why don’t you bother to read and fully ratify what is written and posted, instead of cherry picking what i and others have written, to try to prove/prop up a point scoring exercise..are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?

Yes you’re right, it would be VERY weird if you were posting these claims on a discussion site in an effort to convince yourself! I assume you’re trying to convince other people, and apparently you’re not doing a very good job. So… is Johnson’s claim of an infallible cure “highly likely”, or is it 100% certain, or is it just your belief?

you’ve changed the remit of your questions and attempting to nudge the semantics of my answers to suit your agenda….and i have already clearly expressed my views to you on the subject. and posted references to his work, it’s for others to look @ his work and decide for themselves…..are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?

No, I’m questioning statements you made, so the semantics are yours, not mine. I’ll try again… is Johnson’s claim of an infallible cure “highly likely”, or is it 100% certain, or is it just your belief? You said all three, but they can’t all be true! You have posted no evidence whatsoever, just two links which don’t contain any proof at all.

i never said all 3..but i’ll add now; personally i am 100% certain and for the information of others, it is highly likely based on the evidences i have provided and with reference to all his work and what has been written about his work, that you now claim to have read….idea; why don’t you email johnson and ask him, if you’re that desperate to know? you do remember that there is no such thing as 100% proof, don’t you?…are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?

One person on one anonymous web site says that they are personally 100% certain that Johnson has discovered a 100% cure for all mental illness. So what? There are many thousands of nutters on similar web sites who say that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time, and they are wrong too. You need evidence, and Johnson has NOT got any.

goblin et al
no i didn’t just say that, i also pointed to his work etc….there is no such thing as 100% proof will you accept that?
goblin;…are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?…..
geoff
….in a nut shell…cbt deals with the present and does not aim to recover the past but control and manage anxiety symptoms, drugs are often used in conjunction with it, see work of dr dorathy rowe ‘beyond fear’ re cbt and it’s numbing affects ct deals with historic abuse(s), gets to and cures the root cause of anxiety ie evapourates ‘frozen terrors’, it’s all covered in his books and web site..people are terrified of expressing their tapped anger and rage to abusers, but with his work one does not have to, so if abusers die one can still heal…see tom mangold panorama 1997 on bob’s work….it was not only alarm bells stopped ringing but peace broke out 12 most dangerous prisoners, too violent for broadmoor, became pretty much non-violent, learned easily as mind gumming terrors were gone or going..the prisoners began to support each other, and help each other to heal and the drugs bill plummeted to virtually 0…the leaflets to his conferences @ quaker house euston rd, are also useful sources…he also has a 1000 hrs of vids to add to his web site 700hrs recorded in parkhurst…

The problem isn’t me accepting that there’s no such thing as 100% cure for all mental illnesses, it’s you and Dr Bob Johnson! I keep saying that it’s ridiculous and entirely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever, but you keep on and on claiming that it’s true. If you think Johnson talking about himself is evidence then you’re a complete idiot. You have failed to provide ANY evidence at all.

insulting people as you so often do, does not improve intelligence nor understanding….the evidence is what actually happen in and around parkhurst prison @ the time…this is well reported, that you refuse to admit to and/or acknowledge, that this exists, preferring the sands of time to fade memories…there is no such thing as 100% proof….it is highly likely that his claims are true, and from my own personal experience i know his claims are true…are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?

he doesn’t just talk about himself, lenny and karl speak about themselves and his work as well, as do i…as does tom mangold and nick davies and countless others, see also his book reviews, for example dr oliver james, dr johanna moncreiff, dr tim sammi, dr dorathy rowe, dr alice miller…robert whitaker and many others who have attended his conferences, many psychiatrists as guest speakers over the years and talk about his work etc etc etc…posted to geoff below ‘his results have never been repeated, in any other prison, and if you have read the links i posted et al you’ll understand why…perhaps also find a copy of johnson’s resignation letter, where he resigns in disgust, because his work had been stopped, and the treatment of himself and his sponsor the parkhurst prison governor….’ the uk govt that weren’t elected still refuse to act…A final word from Bob: It’s a curious thing, but the proof of C-Wing Parkhurst, was that no alarm bells rung for 3 years, down from 20 a year before I got into gear – but ‘proof’ counts for zilch when ideologies are questioned… http://www.brusselsblog.co.uk/people-we-should-listen-to/
answer this… are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?

You’re missing the point. There are no documented and peer reviewed case histories. That would be evidence. Untested anecdotes presented by the person who is actively trying to sell his services is not.

you’re not being honest, he asked for that to be done, presented the evidence so it could be done as did parkhurst prison, it/he was refused by the state, it’s there in black and white in the links i have posted…he agrees, as i do, it should be fully studied/peer group reviewed, to stop people from discrediting his work, but they refused to do it…where’s the proof, csa/ca victims are constantly asked where’s the proof/prove it, with his work no one has to prove that they were abused, his work believes the victims…the prerequisite validation of any empirical peer review studies is that they are entirely independent of the claimer…the proof is in that no alarm bells rang for 3 yrs down from 20+/yr, drugs bill plummeted to 0…how do you a/c for that, from notably the most violent prisoners in uk custody? do i have to prove food is good for me before i eat? his work is obviously not untested as i have already presented evidence that his work is valid and tested…do you think that to find out if homelessness is bad i should check peer reviewed case studies to know it, i already know it, as do all…i know burns are bad, i don’t need to interview burns victims to know that!! i don’t need science to give me permission to tell me what i already know….ouch! did it really hurt, i know i’ll see if empirical studies say it has..my message is if his work makes sense emotionally/emotional sense rings bells, try it…
are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts?
so you see i am not missing the point @ all…

all you do is to keep trying to change/ignore the subject and not respond to what i have written…answer this; are you willing to confirm or deny that we have previously exchanged views on this subject prior to these posts? others will make their own minds up about any posts and responses that have been made and/or the reasons behind them…

Note the cost of alternatives “The DSPD programme is a ten year government pilot project that has cost nearly half a billion pounds. Positive outcomes have been very limited, and a host of ethical concerns have been raised since its creation in 1999…”

How much would it cost to look into Bob’s methods? Would they help if they were only 50% successful?

Overburdeneddonkey. Any more clues to your “cbt/state horseshit,” judgement. Thanks for the link to the Nick Davies article.

no, he’s not the only one who can do it i know some people who worked with him, his wife and the person @ his clinic in the IoW…and you will have seen his curing mental pain vid and those who assisted karl to express his trapped emotional injuries….

geoff
his results have never been repeated, in any other prison, and if you have read the links i posted et al you’ll understand why…perhaps also find a copy of johnson’s resignation letter, where he resigns in disgust, because his work had been stopped, and the treatment of himself and his sponsor the parkhurst prison governor….

Geoff – If you can’t name this supposed “retired prison govenor” [sic] who you fortuitously met “in a pub last week”, then your words are just more internet drivel posted by a sad fantasist. Do you have anything substantive to say?

You can’t even get one simple fact right…….It wasn’t the unemployed, it was disability claimants.

““The welfare state has also created a brazen culture of benefit “scrounging”, whereby individuals who are perfectly capable of working refuse to do so, and go on benefits instead. They frequently justify this by feigning illness. This gives rise to a parasitic underclass of “scroungers”, which represents both an unreasonable tax burden on the working population”

Brutally said, but true nonetheless…”

Haha that’s from a Ukrapper

Seems that slagging off disabled is better than slagging off unemployed to them

Publicising worst case scenarios of homelessness may bolster the self-righteous vanity and sympathy coffers of charities but it does nothing to move the debate forward. After decades of homelessness charities dominating the agenda/debate and claiming to support tenants rights, homelessness is increasing and tenancies are insecure.

Temporary, inadequate and insecure tenancies are also forms of homelessness.

http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/resources/benefit-sanctions-britains-secret-penal-system
‘Few people know that the number of financial penalties (‘sanctions’) imposed on benefit claimants by the Department of Work and Pensions now exceeds the number of fines imposed by the courts. In Great Britain in 2013, there were 1,046,398 sanctions on Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants, 32,128 on Employment and Support Allowance claimants, and approximately 44,000 on lone parent recipients of Income Support. By contrast, Magistrates’ and Sheriff courts imposed a total of only 849,000 fines.’

obd
essentially, though, some of them at least are just “doing it to Julia” in the hope of avoiding having it done to themselves, at whatever conscious/unconscious level ??

I have to think about this due to having a relative who I’m not in relatively close proximity to very often (thankfully) and it’s disconcerting, to say the least. They’ve climbed the JCP- greasy pole to a certain level – not an IDS or a McVey – but a mini version of them (minion) and have gone about living a ‘normal’ (to all intents and purposes) life. So seeing this in action from the outside as well as from the inside … is discombobulating.

“Discombobulate”:-
A message sent to bob in the late 70s/early 80s, from friends keen to start their Saturday night out, on an early mobile phone – before the invention of ‘text-speak’ …
(with apologies; without a clue)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a net flow of 298,000 migrants to the UK in the 12 months to last September – up from 210,000 in the previous year, and equal to the population of a city like Nottingham.

Where and how are these late arrivals housed the immigration statistics would suggest there is no homelessness epidemic or displacement in the UK are they all sleeping in the airports?

No. They are living two or three to a room,working for £30 a day cash at car washes and other high cash turnover businesses and giving most of their wages back to the boss who is also their landlord.
The landlord has the building re valued every 18 months and uses the increased value of the house as security for yet another mortgage on another property.

This is the wonderous face of our capitalist society as it stands currently.
The greedy building property empires off the backs of exploited workers living in hovel-esq cramped conditions working for less than min wages.
Those of the existing work force who will not compete at this level are deemed scroungers and layabouts and have to fight tooth and nail just to keep a benefits claim going and thus the roof over their heads.

How long can tosser Cameron and his band of liars and spivs get away with blatantly lying to the british public and get away with it? “Oh the economy is improving! Look at those tragic countries like Italy and Portugal their economy’s all sliding along the bottom and look at our’s! Millions of superb great quality jobs being created and people’s standard of living rising !”

The above in quotation marks is the shite they spin. Absolute lies and distortions of the figures is what it is. And how they’ve got away through a full parliament with this is simply astounding and says so much about the state of modern Britain.

Anyway in the GE i’ll be voting for SNP. I was normally a Labour man all my life but i’ve become so sickened with their complicity, along with the Tories, in this austerity lie that has been used to destroy people’s standard of living as well as their futures.

I look forward with much anticipation to the forthcoming destruction of the Labour party in Scotland.

raining
well it’ll throw a spanner in the establishments works for sure…
and if r.uk vote for ie class war and other true socialist parties/independents en mass, reduce red/blue tories mandate to govern…we can begin to regain our collective/social self esteem….it’s what we have, and imo what we should work with….

Me too Raining – it has to be SNP for the sake of Scotland.
The reason the lies and the shite they spin are due to the absolute laziness, I’m alright Jack, and really couldn’t give a damn about anyone else, public. We could have gotten them out a few years ago, but everyone is too idle to do something about it. Should the Tories get back in this year then God help us all, but on the other hand, we deserve everything we get.

Libertarianism (Latin: liber, “free”) is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as its principal objective. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgement. What you got against that Mr R. ? Are you some kind of hardline Stalinist/Nazi/SNP type ?

Thanks. That’s interesting too. I had some correspondence with Walter Segal in the early 1970s. He sent me a sketch of his idea for mass housing – as I remember laid out like the best prefab estates but two storey. Sadly I can no longer find his sketch. I’d like to find similar if they exist.

g
prefabs people hated them @ 1st, grew communities, veg plots and didn’t want to leave them!
‘Have you come across Festinger, S. Schachter, & K. Back (eds.), Social Pressure in Informal Groups, 1950.’ no…
‘I’d like to find similar if they exist.’ i know what you mean, spread out housing (eco-villages) integrated into our natural environment, perma-culture, say with fruit trees, and vegetables that can be grazed or gathered….no cars in the living areas, a central services hub for library, small cinema tv, washing and drying clothes, shopping, parking, etc..there’s like you say plenty of land, even marginal land in glens etc…much better than thousands of hectares of sitka…it’s just a dream, but the contrasted alternative is inspiring…maybe one day it’ll be a reality…
‘I expect you are aware of Oskar Newman’s, Defensible Space’. no, but i get it, as defended personal intimate space….

Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
The good Mr Void describes here the massive increase in homelessness under the Tories. The numbers sleeping rough have doubled since the Tories weren’t elected in 2010. The lowest point for the number of people sleeping rough on the streets was in 2002. This was a few years after Bliar launched a new government department and initiative to combat the problem.

As Mr Void discusses later in the article, these figures may not accurately report the true number of homeless people. It only covers those sleeping on the streets, not in abandoned buildings, locked parks, or those in nightshelters or hostels. It also does not cover the hidden homeless living with friends and relatives or staying in temporary accommodation. There are 60,000 families living like this, and the total number of this hidden homeless may be 400,000.

The article considers that this is due to Tory welfare reforms. And it’s going to get worse, much worse, especially when the Tories remove housing benefit for the under 25s.

Well the Need For Revolution both in the Sphere of Politic’s and in the
Attitude of Many People ie to Abandon that I Am All Right Jack Mentality
and Thatcherite Inspired Selfishness and have a Human Heart is Clear
as Crystal

Revolutionary Socialism the Taxing of the Rich and Hands Off the Poor
the ReNationalization of the Railways and Public Utilities Offers More
Hope than the Misery of Neo Liberalism

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